40 pages • 1 hour read
Timothy SnyderOn Tyranny
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 18-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary: “Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.”
The Reichstag fire of early 1933 burns the German parliament; whether set by the Nazis or not, it becomes the excuse for the wholesale suspension of German civil liberties. Thereafter, no one can oppose the Nazi regime: “Hitler had used an act of terror, an event of limited inherent significance, to institute a regime of terror that killed millions of people and changed the world” (105).
The current Russian regime under Vladimir Putin comes to power after a series of terror attacks that become the reason for centralized total political control. Putin then employs undercover soldiers in a terror operation in eastern Ukraine and uses cyberwar to try to control a Ukrainian election. His operators then take over a French TV station with a broadcast of a fake version of the Muslim terror group ISIS, hoping the French people would turn to the right in an upcoming vote. Russia also plants a fake story in Germany about a Russian girl raped by Moslems.
The current American president agrees with Putin that the number one enemy they should fight together is “international terrorism and extremism” (109). This proposal amounts to “terror management: the exploitation of real, dubious, and simulated terror attacks to bring down democracy.
For James Madison, tyranny “arises ‘on some favorable emergency’” (110). The power of political fear mongering is that “one moment of shock enables an eternity of submission” (110).
Chapter 19 Summary: “Be a patriot.”
The current president has engaged in a number of unpatriotic activities, from draft-dodging to tax evasion to admiring foreign dictators. Snyder states that “[i]t is not patriotic to call upon Russia to intervene in an American presidential election” (112). The president is also a nationalist, which puts resentment toward outsiders first; this, too, is different from being a patriot.
Democracy is in danger all over the world: “A nationalist will say that ‘it can’t happen here,’ which is the first step toward disaster. A patriot says that it could happen here, but that we will stop it” (114).
Chapter 20 Summary: “Be as courageous as you can.”
This chapter reads, in its entirety: “If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny" (117).
Epilogue Summary: “History and Liberty”
With the end of Nazism, fascism, and communism, Americans believe that history has moved from tyranny toward liberal democracy in the “politics of inevitability” (118). In thus lowering their defenses, Americans have “opened the way for precisely the kinds of regimes we told ourselves could never return” (118).
In the 21st century, American political discourse accepts history’s end as inevitable; thus, debate centers around the speed of change rather than the type of change, and pundits discuss neoliberalism and economic disruption as if arguing fine details in a process already largely worked out.
Another “antihistorical” (121) way of looking at things is the “politics of eternity” (121), whereby leaders speak of an imaginary past when times were better. Many such speakers seem to favor the 1930s, when tyrants ruled and empires flourished. The current American president wants “riots to go back to where we used to be when we were great” (123).
Among tyrants, the sense of emergency is ever-present, preventing discussions about the future: “How can we even think of reform when the enemy is always at the gate?” (124). When the belief in inevitability is shattered, it is replaced by a belief in an eternity where nothing improves but merely moves in cycles.
On the other hand, a study of history shows that there are possibilities for a better future, possibilities that must be grasped without assurance of success, by new generations of Americans who embrace history as an active process filled with potential.
Chapter 18-Epilogue Analysis
Despite all our efforts, it’s possible that, someday, a tyrant will take over the US. Snyder is serious enough about this concern to have thought carefully about how citizens can fight back. In the book's final chapters, he admonishes Americans not to panic at the first sign of a big emergency, not to succumb to nationalistic loyalties but instead to the patriotism of values, and to be courageous in all situations.
The Epilogue presents an interesting theory about the putative end of history and America’s declining vigilance against autocrats. If Americans believe history has finished its work, they might easily be lured into believing that history doesn’t matter at all, and that an earlier, mythical age can be conjured up by a great leader, to become the eternal state of the nation. Without saying so directly, Snyder seems to imply—through his ongoing condemnation of what he sees as dangerous behaviors by President Trump—that the “make America great again” campaign is an example of the “eternity politics” (121) that Snyder warns against.
Elsewhere, Snyder has theorized that the Trump administration may stage a coup by declaring an emergency; in an interview, Snyder states that it’s inevitable that they will try. Earlier commentators feared that, during his presidency, Barack Obama was planning a coup to extend his presidency. Meanwhile, many pundits worry that increasing polarization may lead to American civil unrest. Does history contain examples that might be instructive?
The Roman Republic in 100 BCE controls much of the Mediterranean region through near-constant warfare. For some decades, the republic is also beset by internal violence between the Populares, who want land reform, and the Optimates, who wish to retain their wealth and privilege. A succession of dictatorships resolves each flareup; democracy returns after every incident, though progressively weakened.
Finally, Julius Caesar, a supporter of the Populares, finds himself threatened with arrest and execution by an angry Senate when his term as a top-ranking Roman official expires. Caesar resolves this dilemma by marching on Rome, conquering it, and declaring himself dictator for life. Two years later he is assassinated by senators, which triggers a 13-year civil war. When the dust settles, the Roman republic is no more, and Rome is ruled for the next 500 years by emperors with absolute power.
The similarities between today’s American scene and the late Roman republic are a bit unnerving. The US engages in near-continuous warfare around the world; left-right polarization stands at a high point; the president’s enemies want to indict and prosecute him when he leaves office. All that’s needed to complete the picture is widespread civil unrest.
Snyder contends that "[h]istory does not repeat, but it does instruct” (9). It’s also been said that “History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.” Whether Snyder’s warnings go unheeded and America falls to a tyrant, or American democracy thrives for decades to come, the next few verses of history are still to be written. Perhaps they’ll rhyme; perhaps they’ll instruct. Maybe they’ll do both.
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